Blessed

"The past is forever buried in the yellow sand."

This article details something that has been cut from the game, with no official plans for it to be released. As a consequence, information and material may be partially incomplete and currently under research.

Blessed, also referred to as 神佑, is a cut B-Tier accessory for all characters. The accessory was the winner of the "Carrying Gift" 2022 Design Competition^[1], but at the designer's request following controversy, the item was cancelled before its scheduled release on July 20th 2023 and as a consequence is cut from the game^[2].

Appearance[]

Blessed appears to be a gray plaster lyre, decorated with a gemstone-embellished statue of a Goddess. The arms of the Goddess statue have eroded, showing the precious turquoise beneath; a silk scarf hangs from the crescent-shaped base.

Concept / Design Notes[]

"I wanted to illustrate the themes of a lyre and the sea. Originally, it contained imagery of a pair of upraised hands to represent a blessing and promise - but I felt that was too stereotypical and stiff, the tassels and other details being too extra. I didn't change much about the hair and other parts, but I did change the moon to a gemstone-like material, setting gems as embellishment into the plaster statue bust. Felt like that was it, so I optimized it a bit and called it a day"

设计思路：想要画出琴和海浪的元素，一开始想的是用两只手托着表示庇佑但是感觉太生硬了，下面的流苏也感觉比较多余。感觉头发和其他地方没什么呼应，把月亮改成了宝石材质，石膏像里添加了颜色圆环上加上宝石点缀。感觉差不多啦然后细化完成

Trivia[]

Blessed's victory in the contest sparked backlash after accusations circulated of its designer using their own original character as a basis of the design rather than using strictly Identity V-related themes. The designer officially requested NetEase Games for the cancellation of the accessory from the game, shortly before its intended release date^[2].
- Users on weibo complained about the artist only revealing that their design was based around their original character after placing first, and that the artist intended to fool the entire playerbase into increasing their own original character's popularity in a malicious way.
  - However, this was not the first time the creator had intentionally reference their own original content in an official art competition. In a previous Portrait Frame design competition on the Chinese server, they had submitted a design based on their own Female Dancer original costume design.^[3]
  - The artist had also posted on Douyin, when questioned by the playerbase: "I know everyone is angry at me because you think I mixed in promotion of my own merchandise - though I must admit, my design process was a bit self-indulgent" (“让大家生气的点是夹带私货 // 当然我也承认，这里面是有一点私心在的”)^[3]
- There were also additional claims from players well-versed in law that the artist would be able to both claim the competition prize, then sue NetEase for using their intellectual property in their game for another large sum of money.
  - Though the accessory did not ultimately make it into the game, the artist still received the ￥50000 RMB first-place prize.
- The artist, _雨塔 / 帕拉伊巴别, has claimed that they did not have malicious intentions when submitting a design based on their own original character into the contest, and that they have been actively harassed online due to the incident.
- The developers announced that no other designs from the contest will receive in-game adaptations.